1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a method of producing a sintered body, and more particularly to a method of producing a gelled green compact which is suitable for producing a thin sintered body which is easily processed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, for producing a thin sintered body, various methods have been proposed and put into practical use. One of them is a method in which a solution of a metal alkoxide is hydrolyzed to coagulate a sol, and the sol is molded, dried and baked to produce a thin sintered body. Japanese Patent First Provisional Publication No. 57-88074 shows an example of such methods, in which a solution of aluminium aloxide is hydrolyzed to coagulate a sol, the sol is molded into a thin gelled green compact and the green compact is dried and baked to produce a thin alumina-sintered body.
The method, however, inherently has the drawbacks described below.
That is, the dried gelled green compact produced from the sol is very fragile, and thus it is difficult or at least troublesome to provide the green compact with a precise shape and dimension. In fact, hitherto, the green compact once shaped has been baked without being reshaped before the baking.
Usually, some organic binder and plasticizer are used for providing the green compact with a certain plasticity. However, the organic binder and plasticizer hitherto used tend to deteriorate the characteristic of the sintered body produced from such green compact. More specifically, such agents have bad effects on the density and homogeneity of the product, viz., sintered body.